Schwarzenegger looks for a role in ’08

He can’t run for president -- the Constitution forbids it.

He won’t camp out in Iowa or New Hampshire -- that would fritter away the goodwill he worked so hard to rebuild this election season.

But that does not mean Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sit out the 2008 presidential campaign.

Fresh off a smashing reelection victory, the governor and his political team are hoping Schwarzenegger’s outsized persona and bipartisan achievements in Sacramento can translate into a substantial role in the next White House contest, especially on the Republican side.

“When you have a Republican who won a large victory in a Democrat state in a very Democrat year, clearly he’s identifying issues that represent what many voters are concerned about,” said Adam Mendelsohn, the governor’s communications chief.

Or, as Schwarzenegger said in a recent interview, referring to himself and his Democratic chums in the Legislature: “We could be a model for the rest of the nation.”

All the more so, aides to the governor say, at a time when voters have demonstrated their frustration with Washington’s gridlock and partisan polarization by driving congressional Republicans out of power.

“There’s no question that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s style of governance, the ability to work in the middle, seeking cooperation instead of confrontation, is something I think you will see the 2008 candidates try to emulate,” said campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, who dropped the machete he wielded for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to manage Schwarzenegger’s more congenial reelection campaign.

People close to the governor say he still hopes that someday the rules will change, allowing him to seek the White House himself.

That would mean changing the Constitution, which requires that the president be a “natural born” U.S. citizen. There was talk of such an amendment early in Schwarzenegger’s first term, but that died around the time his popularity plunged during the disastrous 2005 special election.

Although the Austrian-born governor has bounced back, no one is seriously talking about constitutional tinkering at this point.

Which is probably a good thing for Schwarzenegger, given his enormous ambition and the experiences of the last few governors tempted by the sirens of the Washington Beltway: Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson.

(Even Reagan needed three tries to win the White House, six years after completing his governorship.)

That leaves two ways for Schwarzenegger to exert influence in the 2008 campaign:

One would be delivering his blessing to a favorite among the many GOP hopefuls contemplating a White House bid. Schwarzenegger has warm relations with the GOP front-runner, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, as well as with former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who recently tiptoed closer to a run for president. Schwarzenegger has also gotten to know Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, another of the top-tier GOP contestants, through their work as fellow Republican governors.

But don’t expect an endorsement while the presidential field is still taking shape.

Besides, a Schwarzenegger embrace would probably be a one- or two-day story at most, given the limited utility of political endorsements.

Instead, the governor and his political advisors -- all of whom plan to stay put -- hope Schwarzenegger can exercise sway in the 2008 campaign by promoting his Sacramento-style centrism on a national stage, the way Reagan-style conservatism was exported west to east.

Though no firm plans are set, there has been talk of Schwarzenegger delivering a major policy speech next year in Iowa or New Hampshire -- the two most important states in the presidential nominating process.

“The environment, global warming, immigration, renewable energy, are all issues that he would like to see discussed by candidates of both parties,” Schmidt said.

Healthcare, which the governor plans to make a centerpiece of his second term, is another area where Schwarzenegger hopes to make his mark, delivering on an issue that has stymied Washington lawmakers for years, although recent bad budget news from Sacramento makes that seem a tall order.

Aides hasten to say that Schwarzenegger remains grounded in the state capital and state issues, lest anyone detect signs of second-term wanderlust, or the dread Beltway fever.

“Any success going forward will be a result of focusing on California,” spokesman Mendelsohn said.

A larger question is how much anyone outside California cares what Schwarzenegger says or does politically. Forget all the serious talk of infrastructure rebuilding.

To much of the country, the state remains the kooky place that made an action movie hero its governor, passing over a porn starlet and others in the odd menagerie of recall candidates.

Grover Norquist, a conservative activist close to the White House, suggested Schwarzenegger could do the Republican Party some good if he stepped out into “real America” and used his celebrity to help raise money for candidates vying to win back the House and Senate.

But the notion of bipartisan centrism as a model for the GOP to keep the White House in 2008 is one of the silliest things he has ever heard, said the famously acerbic Norquist, who once likened bipartisanship to date rape. “If people wanted you to go and agree with the Democrats, they’d have elected a Democrat,” Norquist said.

Another Washington strategist, a Republican involved in several races this year, said all 36 gubernatorial contests had lessons to offer.

When it comes to the GOP contest for president, however, “The primary nomination process is filled with hard-core conservatives who show up [to vote]. And you have to win the base.”

The strategist wished to remain anonymous; even if some Republicans are dubious of Schwarzenegger’s centrism as a national model, few wished to anger the governor or his advisors.

“He’s the 800-pound gorilla” of California, said John Weaver, a McCain strategist who suggested Schwarzenegger’s positive tone, if not his left-leaning stand on social issues, was something other Republicans might wish to emulate. “If he wants to be a player, he’s a player.”

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mark.barabak@latimes.com

Times staff writers Joe Mathews and Peter Nicholas contributed to this report.